The present invention relates generally to radar cross section enhancement techniques, and more particularly, to impulse radar system and methods that enhance the radar cross section of targets.
Reduction in radar cross section of a target is conventionally accomplished by shaping the surface of the target and/or by using radar absorptive material. The shaping causes the incident radar signal to reflect specularly away from the source and it is the most effective way of reducing the radar cross section of the target. In fact this shaping approach has made many targets extremely difficult for a radar to detect.
A conventional approach for detecting a low radar cross section target is to increase the radiated power on the target and/or operate the radar sensor at a low frequency where there is a significant increase in the backscattered signal from the target. In either case, this brute-force approach requires an extremely large and high power radar, and consequently, this approach is very expensive.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting low radar cross section targets. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for detecting low radar cross section targets without encountering the above-mentioned problems and frequency restrictions.